The exercise and fitness industry continues to be an area of high growth, marked by a proliferation of exercise machines. Among many of the most popular exercise machines are aerobic leg exercise machines, such as but not limited to: treadmills, air walkers/gliders, upright and recumbent bicycle machines, torso-twisting disks, cross-trainers, steppers, elliptical exercise machines, cross-country and downhill ski machines, trampolines, squat machines, rowing machines, stretching machines, riders, and the like.
Many exercise machines have some sort of handrail, grip, or handlebars for resting the arms, while other embodiments provide nothing to hold on to, and still other embodiments have some type of mechanism to enable simultaneous exercising of the arms and/or upper body. Such mechanisms may include but are not limited to poles, shafts, or arms that, for example, move back and forth. Machines with such mechanisms for exercising both the legs or lower body and arms or upper body are often referred to as “dual action” or “total body” exercise machines.
Dual action or total body machines have a number of benefits, including offering a more complete total body exercise that includes both the arms and/or the upper as well as the lower body. The increased work raises the user's metabolism and heart rates more quickly than single action machines, and maintains the higher metabolism and heart rate throughout the workout. Such machines are therefore more efficient, providing more exercise in less time. The arm exercise features also strengthen, tone, or shape the arm muscles during the aerobic workout. The overall safety of machines with such features is also typically enhanced, as the arm exercise mechanisms typically provide improved balance to the user as compared to embodiments without such mechanisms.
Application Ser. Nos. 11/039,323, 10/611,763 and 10/033,108 noted above and incorporated herein by reference, both of which include William T. Wilkinson as the inventor or co-inventor/assignee, (hereinafter referred to as “the parent applications”) disclose a number of total body exercise machines that provide for upper body exercise with a full, natural forward and/or backward arm swing simultaneously with lower body exercise. Treadmill embodiments are featured extensively in the parent applications, although the inventions discussed therein are not limited to treadmill embodiments.
Many types of treadmills are well known in the art, including automated treadmills in which a motor moves the tread under the user's feet, to set a pace at which the user may run or walk. Other treadmills, referred to as “manual” treadmills, do not provide such a motor, but rather rely upon the forces generated by the user to move the tread.
Many treadmills are known in the art to include an elevation mechanism to provide an optional incline of the treadmill to simulate walking up hill, and to therefore increase the intensity of the workout. Examples of automated treadmills having an automated elevation mechanism, which allows a user to increase or decrease the incline through the use of a motorized mechanism, may be found in the following issued U.S. Patents, incorporated herein by reference: U.S. Pat. No. 3,643,943 to Erwin, Jr. et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,491 to Elder; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,844,499 and 4,886,266 to Truslaske; U.S. Pat. No. 5,085,426 to Wanzer et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,352,167 to Ulicny; U.S. Pat. No. 5,378,212 to Pin-Kuo; U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,857 to Watterson et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,436,008 to Skowronski et al. The following U.S. Patents describe manual mechanisms for adjusting the incline of a treadmill, all of which are also incorporated by reference: U.S. Pat. No. 3,731,917 to Townsend; U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,616 to Ogden; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,375 to Dalebout et al. U.S. Pat. No. 1,870,244 to Elston, also incorporated herein by reference, although not specific to treadmills, also describes an automated lifting jack mechanism suitable for use on a treadmill.
Treadmill embodiments with side railings are well known in the art. Because of the full, natural arm swing anticipated with the treadmill designs disclosed in the parent applications, it is disclosed that treadmill embodiments with side railings may provide those railings spaced radially from the treadmill frame far enough, and/or have a height low enough, and/or only extending from the front to the back of the machine only far enough to avoid interfering with the natural arm swing of the universal user. There may be times, however, such as when a user decides not to use the upper body exercise devices on a total body machine, when the user would prefer to have the rails in the more standard position.
Although the parent applications describe a number of different resistance devices that may be used to provide the resistance, and do not limit certain aspects of the inventions disclosed therein to any particular types of resistance devices, certain types of resistance devices may be desired for particular purposes in particular situations. Thus, in the continuous search for an optimum total body exercise device, particular combinations of elements may be surprisingly effective and desirable to potential users.